Prosecutor launches probe into Do?an Media Group for 'terror propaganda'

Turkish prosecutors have launched an investigation into the Do?an Media Group for ?terrorist propaganda? following a widely derided front-page story in pro-government daily Güne?.

The Chief Prosecutor?s Office in Istanbul?s Bak?rköy district launched the probe on Sept. 15, according to state-run Anadolu Agency, after accepting the front page that the tabloid published five days earlier as a criminal denunciation.

Some of the claims in the Güne? story had already been declared unfounded by the Turkish judiciary, which had refused to launch a case. Deputy Chief Prosecutor ?dris Kurt, however, took Güne??s allegations seriously and initiated the probe.

One of the claims that was previously dropped was a headline on Hürriyet?s website, saying, ?He received 52 percent but they issued a death penalty,? which was a quote by President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an regarding the death sentence against ousted Egyptian President Mohamad Morsi. Pro-government media then claimed, however, that Hürriyet threatened Erdo?an with the headline as the president received 52 percent of the vote in August 2014 elections, but the claim was later rejected by a Turkish prosecutor who decided not to launch a probe.

Another Güne? claim that triggered the probe into Do?an, which owns daily Hürriyet, the CNNTürk TV channel and the Hürriyet Daily News, among other outlets, was related to CNNTürk reporter Cüneyt Özdemir?s interview with Ay?e Deniz Karacagil, a prominent Gezi Park protester. Özdemir interviewed the activist after she was released from prison in February 2014 pending trial that could result in close to 100 years in jail for participating in the protests. The woman joined the outlawed Kurdistan Workers? Party (PKK) four months after the broadcast.